ABSTRACT
The struggle of accepting and recording post-war modern architecture is proceeding by means of several ongoing exhibitions, publications, discussions, and projects. This chapter shows different methods of appropriation (Aneignung) of post-war modernity in architecture and city planning by documentation and presents an international comparison of inventories of urban design and listed buildings from the 1950s to 1980s. One focus is on New Heritage Actors and Web Documentation as a contribution to preservation and protection: Buildings and plans from the 1950s to 1980s are currently at particular risk of demolition or deformation. Documenting this architecture is important to gain an overview of the building stock, to recognize important monuments and sites, and to list them. In cases of material loss, existing documentation at least preserves the knowledge of such lost heritage. Discussing documenting modernity under the topic of securitization necessitates reflecting on documented examples of the destruction of symbolic modern architecture, from Pruit Igoe (as described in Charles Jencks’s “Death of Modern Architecture”) to modernist architecture in Eastern European countries. In many cases, the detailed documentation of these buildings’ destruction often directly influenced the process of their valorization, as in the destruction of East German architecture (for example the ‘Maple Leaf’/Ahornblatt in Berlin): The (well-documented) destruction of key buildings from this period fuelled public interest, producing an overall positive influence on the listing process. Linked to the importance of documentation are the surrounding actors/agents/stakeholders whose documentation work often forms a basis for the inventories of national or local heritage institutions and illustrates the significance of informal provisional listings as a protection instrument. Documenting modernity is a complex cultural process between new stakeholders and traditional institutions, new methods of placement, and public access that is in development and requires further discussion.
